The deserted medieval village of Cottam and the settlement matrix model

The amount of accumulated research on English medieval villages has created the current state of English medieval archaeology in which the excavation of a village site is very difficult to justify. This is especially true in Eastern Yorkshire which is one of the most heavily studied areas of rural medieval England. However, research at the deserted medieval village of Cottam shows that if a non-intrusive strategy is used, the extensive archaeological data set for the area allows the entire medieval township to be rapidly and effectively studied. However, current archaeological interpretive approaches are not capable to providing meaningful interpretations of a large and well integrated subject like a medieval township. The settlement matrix model, therefore, had to be created as a heuristic framework for guiding the analysis of a settlement and its support area. To do this the settlement matrix model borrows the concept of the setting and the idea that settings exist in complex interconnected systems from architectural theory. The settlement matrix model, therefore, presents each aspect of daily life from the house to the settlement to the field system as integral parts of a single cultural construct, the settlement matrix. Each setting within a settlement matrix, therefore, can be studied using the most appropriate methodology and theoretical approach for its data while at the same time providing the building blocks for the meaningful interpretation of the entire settlement matrix. By using this approach, the medieval township of Cottam can be understood as a single cultural creation formed by numerous smaller cultural creations